Tiger Woods to play back-to-back weeks with Honda Classic commitment

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Adam Long (+400 for a Top 20) … From multiple angles, he took care of business at Mayakoba where he had recorded podium finishes in both prior appearances. His performance this time wasn’t as gleaming but he still signed for four red numbers and a T22. That extended his laughable trend of nine consecutive top 30s – when he’s made the cut – in his last 26 starts. That’s right; he missed the cut in all of the other 17. Hopes remain again in Houston where he finished T11 with four rounds of par or better last year. Martin Laird (+400 for a Top 20) … The Scot saunters in having connected top 25s for the first time since July of 2019. After a T11 in his title defense at TPC Summerlin, he finished T22 at Mayakoba. Always strong from tee to green, and with a little pop when he needs it, Memorial Park suits his long game, so he’ll need to tighten the screws on his putting that cost him a shade over four strokes en route to a missed cut on the track last year. If he does that, the next target would be another top 25. He hasn’t had three in a row since early 2015. Luke List (+375 for a Top 20) … He last appeared in Sleepers for the Sanderson Farms Championship and answered the bell with a T17. In the interim, he’s added a T7 at the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP. He can be fairly judged as a long hitter and little more, but in the last four months, he’s 7-for-10 with a pair of top fives to open that stretch. Just like with Laird, the putter is List’s nemesis, but it cost him only 1.40 strokes en route to his missed cut here last year. It’s important to add that he wasn’t showcasing the kind of overall form that he has been lately. Taylor Moore (+300 for a Top 20) … Not all momentums are alike, but he can’t be unhappy with his transition from a torrid 2021 portion of the Korn Ferry Tour to his foray on the PGA TOUR. With a pair of T10s to open the KFT Finals, the 28-year-old born in San Angelo, Texas, fortified his position in the opening graduate reshuffle. and sat out the finale. After missing the cut at Silverado, he went T17-T24 before sitting out the last four weeks. It’s too early to judge his skill at this level, but early on he’s aligning with what got him here in the first place. En route to a win, a second and two thirds among 13 top 10s on the 2020-21 KFT, he ranked T6 in total driving, 10th in greens hit, fifth in ball-striking, sixth in scrambling, sixth in the all-around and fourth in scoring average. Dawie van der Walt (+800 for a Top 20) … Although he’s a native South African, he’s a local. He lives in Kingwood, which is north of the city, and it’s not a small thing that he’s stayed given the fact that Hurricane Harvey flooded his home in 2017. This will mark his fifth career start in the tournament, four via a sponsor exemption (including this week) and once as an open qualifier (2018). The first three were forgettable but there was magic in the air when the event moved to Memorial Park in 2020. He sat T4 at the midpoint and T6 entering the final round. A closing 1-over 71 on what was the easiest day for scoring bumped him back to a T20 that remains his second-best finish in 34 career PGA TOUR starts. The 38-year-old came close with a T22 at the season-opening Fortinet Championship, which was an extension of form on the Korn Ferry Tour where he concluded its campaign with three top 15s in four starts to earn his second TOUR card. Odds were sourced on Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2021. For live odds, visit betmgm.

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Pat Perez proved Sunday that, on a PGA TOUR dominated by lithe, young superstars with physiques crafted in the gym and clubhead speed that can overheat a TrackMan, there is still room for a 41-year-old who prefers late nights with a beer (or a few) over early-morning workouts. He shot 24-under 264 at this week’s CIMB Classic to win by four shots over Keegan Bradley and finish seven shots ahead of Sung Kang and the reigning Rookie of the Year, Xander Schauffele. Perez started his 17th PGA TOUR season with the third win of his career, and his second in the past 11 months.  “I’m such a different person than I was 17 years ago, even like five years ago,â€� he said. “I’m learning how to play the game and learning how to play my own game and stay within myself and that kind of stuff. I’m a late bloomer.â€� Perez took the 36-hole lead at TPC Kuala Lumpur and never relinquished it. He started Sunday with a four-shot lead and won by that same margin. He shot four consecutive rounds in the 60s (66-65-64-69) and made just three bogeys all week. He hit 62 of 72 greens but said it was the putter that carried him to victory. “If I didn’t putt well I probably would have finished 40th,â€� he said Perez is coming off a career-best finish in the FedExCup (15th) and the first TOUR Championship appearance of his career. He’s second in this season’s early FedExCup standings, 56 points behind Safeway Open champion Brendan Steele. Steele followed last week’s win with a 13th-place finish in Malaysia. Perez, who’s been on the PGA TOUR since 2002, now has two victories in his past 25 starts after winning once in his first 378. He was one of just five players in their 40s to win last season. Compare that to a record-setting 18 victories by players under 25, a group that includes FedExCup champions Justin Thomas (2017) and Jordan Spieth (2015). Last year’s lengthy layoff after shoulder surgery has inspired his good play, giving him a new perspective on the game. Perez, who won the 1993 Junior Worlds over Tiger Woods, was always known for having tons of talent but also a hot temper. “It took me a lot longer to probably mature, if you can even use that word for me,â€� he said. He may give up yards off the tee to today’s young stars, but he makes up for it with a strong short game. His winning score this week was just two shots off Thomas’ tournament record. “It’s frustrating because I see these guys, perfect builds, they’re tall and they’re skinny and they’ve got all this strength, and then there’s me who kind of waddles around,â€� Perez said at the TOUR Championship. “I don’t like working out, I like to sit, kind of do nothing, so it’s kind of my own fault, I guess, on the strength. “But when those guys go, they just keep running, like Justin Thomas. They just have those extra gears that can get them on the par-5s in two. I can’t get to the par-5s in two so my short game’s got to be sharp.â€� This week’s win came a continent away from home, but at a place that is special to him. Last year’s CIMB Classic was Perez’s first start since surgery that March to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder. He’d been dropped by his equipment sponsor and thought his return to the PGA TOUR was still months away. Then the CIMB Classic’s executive director, Todd Rhinehart, called and offered him an invitation. Perez’s wise-cracking ways apparently have international appeal. A middle-of-the-pack finish (T33) may not have looked impressive on paper, but it was an encouraging return after several months on the sideline, and it set the stage for the best year of Perez’s lengthy career. He finished seventh in his next start, at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, and then won the OHL Classic at Mayakoba. His second win came nearly eight years after his first one, at the 2009 CareerBuilder Challenge “If he hadn’t given me the spot, the funny thing is I don’t know if I would have started the TOUR until January,â€� Perez said Sunday. “So all those chain of events might not have happened. So I can’t thank him enough for doing that. I really can’t explain it, it’s been an amazing 12 months.â€� Perez said he starts every season with two goals, to win and qualify for the TOUR Championship. He has the win under his belt. Now he wants to get back to East Lake. He estimates that he’ll need another 800 FedExCup points to accomplish that.  Today’s game emphasizes distance, but Perez has had success despite ranking 112th in driving distance (290.9 yards) and 130th in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee last season. He was fourth in Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green and 37th in Strokes Gained: Putting. “They’re just different type of players than I am,â€� Perez said of the TOUR’s 20-somethings. “I try to get mine where I can and that’s what it is.â€�

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